Thanks so much to Apollo Wings, Morninglight, anesor, Violet Enigma and eboncat for your feedback! You guys are awesome!
Special thanks to my lovely betas: CouslandSpitFire and Eynla! I know how busy you are and I really appreciate that you take some time off from your schedules to help me out! Also want to thank my friend, anesor, for some much needed help and suggestions! :D
This chapter is a chapter that is setting the scene for future chapters in a way.
My disclaimer as usual: Bioware owns everything, I swear! I just play with the characters! :D
Chapter 19
Excerpt from Anders's journal:
Living with the Champion of Kirkwall was fine most of the time. Rhianna was suddenly thrown into the spotlight and asked to a great number of parties, which she attended, just to keep appearances. This was the part I disliked the most.
Don't get me wrong. She took me to all of them and I appreciated that, I really did. But the fact is that I am a mage, and she is a normal woman. If only I had found my blasted phylactery, things would have been totally different. However, I had never been able to find it, even if the former Warden-Commander had tried her best to help me find it in Amaranthine – and that had turned out to be an ambush. No phylactery for me!
She was given a shiny medal in a formal gathering at the Viscount's Keep. She hated every moment of it, I know. She had her 'get me out of this fast' smile on her face the whole time. It was in this reunion that she met some pretty interesting nobles who fawned all over her while begging her to solve all their stupid problems. If anything, the blasted title gave her more work than ever before. And let's not forget all the headaches!
Stupid nobles!
Anders shut his journal with a sigh and put it away just as he heard Rhianna's footsteps in the foyer, which told him she was finally home. He walked out of the library quickly to meet her with a grin on his face, his heart thumping wildly in his chest just as it always did when he saw her.
"Any luck finding the Reinhardts' dog, love?" he asked holding his arms open for her.
"Bloody dog! It was in their cellar the whole time! Ugh!" Rhianna scowled as she walked straight into Anders's arms. She rubbed her face on his coat, breathing in his scent.
"You smell like lemons," she whispered, taking another deep breath. "And elfroot, too…"
"Perhaps the lemon soap I use to bathe?" Anders chuckled.
"I could stay here forever," she sighed happily, grateful to be home at last.
"I like the sound of that," Anders murmured, lifting up her chin so he could give her a kiss.
Something squirmed inside Rhianna's armor and mewed. Anders's startled eyes looked at her chest, which seemed to be straining to get out.
"You have a meowing chest, now?" he joked. "I can't wait to try it out!"
Rhianna burst out laughing, then hissed, as if in pain. "Ouch!" From underneath her leather armor she pulled out the cutest and smallest white kitten Anders had ever seen. It had very long fur and long whiskers and stared up at Anders with a surprised look in its bright green eyes.
"Mew?"
Anders's face was a sight to see, and Rhianna felt her knees go weak – which also made her forget about the kitten.
"Oooh! What a cute kitty!" he crooned in a soft voice, taking the little thing in his hands and petting it, then scratching underneath its chin. He watched the kitten shut its eyes with pleasure and his lopsided smile made Rhianna's heart skip a beat.
"It's for you," Rhianna said with a warm smile. "The Reinhardts' dog was chasing it in the cellar, so I figured I'd bring him home to you."
"Oh, thank you so much, love!" Anders said in a soft voice, pulling her close, the kitty climbing up to one of his feathered pauldrons. "You don't know how much this means to me."
"I have a pretty good idea," Rhianna smiled up at her handsome mage. "I brought some fish, too. He's probably hungry, poor thing."
The kitten was fiercely batting at Anders's hair, which was tied up in a ponytail as always. Its sharp little nails caught on the tie, pulling it slightly so some of his hair fell onto his face. Anders chuckled as Rhianna led him to the kitchen and put a small parcel on the wooden table, while Orana curtseyed and smiled, clapping her hands when she spotted the kitty.
Anders himself prepared the fish for his cat, after setting the small feline down on the wooden table. He held a small piece of the fish out and patiently waited. The kitten delicately smelled the piece he was offering, and then took it; eating it and immediately licking its mouth and paws before turning its gaze on Anders again.
"I think it wants more," Rhianna laughed.
Anders fed it a couple of pieces and it rubbed his head against his hands as it walked back and forth, purring. "You have long whiskers, don't you?" Anders cooed. "Yes, you do!"
Orana placed a small bowl of water in front of the kitten and it immediately lapped it up.
"Well, I'm going to get a bath started," Rhianna said with a smile.
"I'll help you," Anders replied setting the kitten back on his shoulder. The kitten started to bat Anders's hair again and he chuckled.
"What are you going to call him?" Rhianna walked out of the kitchen with Anders trailing behind her.
Anders looked over his shoulder, the kitten's whiskers tickling his right cheek as it peeked at him curiously with solemn, bright green eyes.
"I think I'll call him Ser Whiskers," Anders beamed.
Rhianna chuckled. "Why am I not surprised?"
…
The reaction of the group to Ser Whiskers was mixed. Varric just made a mental note of the loving expression on Rhianna's face whenever Anders cooed at the cat. Isabela spared a grin in the kitten's direction trying not to look so interested, but failed miserably. Fenris just grunted, then sighed and shook his head. Merrill immediately went up to the little cat, petting it, while Velanna rolled her eyes. Aveline stared at the cat with a warm smile, her hand immediately stretching out to pet it.
"Aren't we here to play Diamondback?" Fenris complained after a while. He hated the way Rhianna looked at Anders and seemed to be angrier than usual.
"Relax, Liri, we're here to play," Anders sat on the chair that was furthest from the elf, while the rest took their places as well.
"I'm not – I wish you would stop calling me that!" Fenris snarled at Anders.
Fenris's words caused Anders to snicker and he turned his attention to Varric, who was dealing the cards.
"Another feline slave, I see?" Velanna spoke up, all eyes on her as she smiled sarcastically at Anders.
"He's a pet, not a slave," Anders sighed. "Really Justice? This is getting so old!"
Velanna shrugged as she watched the card game with a bored expression on her face.
"The gangs have started to attack people on the streets," Rhianna told everyone in a low voice as she arranged her cards. "I hope to take care of that soon. Anyone up for a nightly romp until they are properly stopped?"
"Count me in," Fenris quickly said as he took a card from the deck. "Pass," he called out in a bored voice, tossing one card on the table.
"It should be fun," Isabela chimed in with a thoughtful expression as she looked at her cards. "I'll go, too."
"Do you have to ask?" Varric said with a smile. "You know you can always count on me, Hawke."
Rhianna gave Varric a huge smile and turned back to her cards.
"I'm out," Aveline sighed as she tossed all her cards on the table. "It was a horrid hand." She turned to Rhianna and shook her head. "I don't think I'll help this time around, Hawke. I'm too busy – "
"Putting together next week's wedding?" Anders supplied with a grin.
Aveline turned to glare at the blonde mage and he smirked.
"You know there isn't much to do," Rhianna smiled at the ginger guard. "I'm offering you the mansion for the wedding party afterwards.
Aveline smiled back at her friend gratefully.
"I'll help with the gangs," Velanna interrupted, sipping some ale from the mug in her hands, her brow furrowed.
Everyone sitting at the table turned to gape at the elven mage. Even Merrill.
Velanna's blue eyes went around the table, puzzled at the intense looks on her.
"Why are you people staring at me like idiots?" she demanded.
"Oh, nothing at all," Anders hurried to say. "We – we…"
"Aren't sure you mean it?" Rhianna finished off for Anders hopefully, the shock on her face causing a rusty smile to appear on Velanna's.
"Oh, I mean it. It will give me a chance to practice my magic," she offered nonplussed.
The image of thugs and thieves enveloped in fire and burning to death immediately came to Anders's mind and he smiled weakly at Velanna.
Fenris made a noise that sounded like a growl as he narrowed his eyes at Velanna, but she just ignored him, keeping her eyes on Hawke.
"Um, thanks, Velanna," Rhianna managed to nod at the elven mage. "We'll meet at my house tomorrow at dusk."
Everyone nodded or grunted their agreement, turning back to the cards silently. Anders was certain that the card game was not what they were thinking about at the moment.
…
Fenris arrived at Hawke's mansion for his daily reading lesson with Hawke with a worried frown. Bodahn told him Rhianna was waiting in the library and he nodded and headed over to the large room silently.
"Hello, Fenris!" Rhianna greeted him with a wide smile.
"Hello," he replied as he sat at the small table and chair opposite Hawke.
Anders walked into the room. "I'm heading to the clinic, love," he smiled, nodding at Fenris who gave him a curt nod back. "Anything you want me to bring back home?"
"No, my love. Are you taking Whiskers with you?" Rhianna grinned.
"Of course!" Anders smiled back as the kitten mewed from his shoulder, peeking around to look at Rhianna solemnly.
Rhianna laughed and Anders bent down to give her a goodbye kiss, then headed off towards the door that led to the cellars. "I'll be back early –well before the wedding and the party."
"You'd better!" Rhianna chuckled.
Fenris squirmed in his chair, a worried frown on his face.
"What's wrong, Fenris?" Rhianna asked gently.
"I'm waiting for something, and I don't like to wait," he said uncomfortably. "Let's just get on with the lesson."
"Can I help?" Rhianna offered, but Fenris shook his head and then gave her a smile.
"Nobody can help until I receive some news," he added. "Let's just focus on this, shall we?"
"All right then," she replied as she opened a page of the book she had chosen, while Fenris focused at the words before him.
After a while, Bodahn hurried into the room.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, Messere Hawke, but there's a man who is at the door that wants to speak to you about tonight."
"Sorry, Fenris, but as you know Aveline and Donnic are getting married today. I have to speak to this man."
"I understand, Hawke." Fenris said. "Perhaps we should do this tomorrow?"
"No, it's just him and then we can finish the lesson in peace," Hawke smiled back. "The preparations start in the afternoon and it's still very early in the morning, so we have time for this."
Fenris smiled back at her gratefully and watched her leave the room. He forced himself to focus on the book and the words he was looking at while she was gone, but after a few moments just sighed and looked towards the only window in the room, worrying again if what he had just done was the right course of action. A number of 'what-ifs' popped into his head as he worried, but it was too late for that. He had already sent off the letter and could only hope that everything would be all right.
…
Aveline's wedding took place in the Chantry, with the Grand Cleric herself marrying the couple. Donnic looked happily at Aveline with a loving expression on his face throughout the wedding.
The party was held at Rhianna's estate and when the guests arrived, they were ushered into a huge room, which had once been the ballroom of the mansion. It had been properly cleaned and dusted, the cobwebs and grime of years now gone. The polished stone floor gleamed in the brightly lit room, the lanterns and candled chandeliers burning steadily – the fire in the huge fireplace on the west wall of the room cackling merrily. Long tables placed against two of the walls in the room were full of food and different bottles of wine and ale, while different servants wandered around carrying silver plates full of pastries, sweetmeats and other delicacies.
Anders drifted from group to group, greeting everyone with a smile or a handshake with Rhianna by his side. She looked stunning in her deep red, tightly fitted, low-cut gown, which showed off her small waist and ample breasts. Anders had been struck dumb when he had first seen her. The thought of her on his arm made him puff out his chest a bit, proud to see the admiring looks that they threw in her direction.
Fenris had chosen to watch from the fireplace, his deep green eyes flickering longingly at Hawke from time to time. Isabela was wearing a blue dress that Rhianna had lent her and even Merrill showed up with Velanna, who looked mildly interested from time to time and was now smiling at something that Merrill was saying. The other guests, all guardsmen and women, chatted happily with each other and watched as the newlyweds prepared for the first dance.
Everyone applauded as Donnic and Aveline twirled around the polished floor and Rhianna stared up at Anders, who looked very handsome in a dark brown coat over a new white shirt and matching dark brown breeches. The bride and groom finished their dance and everyone burst into a hearty applause. Anders turned to Rhianna with an alluring smile.
"Would you do me the honor, my Lady?" he crooned as the musicians struck the chords to the next song. His warm brown eyes sparkled happily as he held out his hand, bowing to her slightly with a carefree expression on his face.
Rhianna took his hand with a laugh, her cheeks a bright pink as they walked to the center of the room and began to dance, while the rest looked on. Soon more people joined in and started dancing happily around the room.
"You dance so well," Rhianna commented. "You never told me how you learned."
"During one of my escapes, a nobleman in the Bannorn took me in. He held dances for the people and I was taught how to dance," Anders chuckled.
"Did you stay there for long?"
Anders shook his head. "Not very long, no. But it was long enough to learn how to dance," he replied with a smile. "When the templars caught me to take me back to the tower, I went without a complaint. The Bann's daughter had her eye on me and I wanted my freedom, so you could say I went back to the Circle quite gladly."
"You heartbreaker," Rhianna teased.
"I never wanted to fall in love while I was in the Circle. The templars could use that information to harm you or your lover, you know. I understood, as all circle mages do, that love wasn't for me." He sounded rather wistful, so Rhianna poked his side playfully, causing him to fall out of step, which elicited a laugh from him.
Donnic and Aveline danced past them laughing and Anders grinned. The dance ended and they clapped along with the rest, moving away from the dance floor and towards the double doors of the ballroom.
"They look happy, don't they?" Rhianna laughed, her eyes still fixed on Aveline and Donnic.
"They do," Anders replied with a smile. His brow suddenly furrowed as he searched her face for an answer to an unasked question and Rhianna blinked back, confused at what she was seeing.
"What is it?" she hurried to say. Anders didn't reply immediately, but took his time. One of the servants passed by and Rhianna took two glasses of wine from the tray for them to sip on.
"I – oh, I'm just wondering what you think of marriage," Anders finally blurted out after drinking most of the wine in his glass.
"Marriage?" Rhianna echoed, her eyes wide with surprise. "I haven't really thought of it, to be honest."
Anders nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face, and Rhianna smiled. "With the right person, it would work, wouldn't it?"
"Oh, yes," Anders agreed, his eyes suddenly twinkling. "Undoubtedly."
"Are you asking me what I think of marriage or are you asking me if I would like to get married?" Rhianna said in a rush. She had always been brutally honest, so he wasn't at all surprised at her question.
Even so, he blushed slightly and kept his eyes downcast. "I am a mage, you know. And a Grey Warden fugitive. What could I offer you?"
Rhianna smiled tenderly at her lover. "Oh, I don't know," she said after a moment of awkward silence. "Love?"
Anders's eyes flickered back to her, the thumping in his heart suddenly increasing in volume. "You know you have my love. Unconditionally and eternally."
The look in his eyes made her smile and she took a sip of wine from her glass, pausing for a short while to think about her answer.
"It seemed to be enough for my mother when she married my father," Rhianna observed. "Why shouldn't it be enough for me?"
Anders laughed. "Your father didn't run away from the Grey Wardens."
"True," Rhianna supplied, her smile gone. "But he did run away from the circle."
"We have that in common, I know," Anders nodded. She was looking up at him – the concern in her eyes was not lost to him.
"Do you think they'll come looking for you anytime soon to take you back?"
He shook his head, his eyes still fixed on hers. "I don't think they ever will. But I am a warden. That will never change, even if I want it to change."
The light in his eyes was gone now, and his serious demeanor seemed out of place and foreign to Rhianna. She didn't say anything, however, but did close the distance between them, putting an arm around his waist and standing on her toes to kiss him tenderly on the cheek.
"Let's not talk about this right now," she whispered into his ear. "It's bad luck for the newlyweds and we're together, aren't we?" she gave his hand a comforting squeeze.
"You're right," Anders said with a smile. "Let's go get something to drink and eat, love."
But as they walked towards one of the tables, Rhianna didn't fail to notice a sad look flicker for a moment in his eyes and her heart wrenched painfully inside her chest when she did.
…